wrestling / Columns

Top 8 Most Likely WWE Title Challengers After AJ Styles

May 21, 2016 | Posted by Mitch Nickelson

AJ Styles debuted earlier this year at the Royal Rumble and WWE – dare I say it – has handled him pretty good so far. Sure, the loss to Chris Jericho at WrestleMania had us all scratching our heads in the moment but he’s been in the company’s top feud ever since. At WWE Payback, Styles takes on Roman Reigns for his second straight Pay-Per-View main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That’s not too shabby.

As much as I love AJ in the main event I’m not so foolish as to think it’ll last forever. The safest of safe money is on Roman retaining at Payback. That’ll be the second straight loss for Styles in a WWE Championship challenge and could likely be the end of his bid for that belt. Roman will soon be moving on to other challengers. That’s what this article is all about, a look at the guys most likely to step into that role next.

With Roman Reigns in the position of being WWE’s chosen babyface champ yet not viewed favorably by much of the audience, he’s in a very versatile position. He really can face anybody on the roster, good guy or bad guy. Both sides of that aisle are represented here, along with a mix of current top guys, returning stars, and those that are on the cusp of elevation.

8. Big Cass

I’m not advocating for a breakup of Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady any time soon but it’s easy to see that WWE likes the big man’s potential. It’s like Vince just realized that the guy is 7 foot tall. He’s not a completely polished performer just yet but he’s doing great on his own. Does it feel like he’s ready for a massive push just yet? No, but WWE might be willing to forego some of the standards they’d otherwise set for a guy who’s a foot shorter.

If Colin would get a shot at the title, it would only be temporary and that’s not a bad thing. There’s still a few months until SummerSlam and Reigns might could use a short-term challenger before he gets inserted into whatever blockbuster match is on his horizon for August. Big Cass would have the opportunity to test his drawing potential on some less important stages. Who knows, he might even hit a home run if given the chance.

7. Randy Orton

Wow, it feels like Randy Orton has been gone forever. I’m scratching my head as to who he might challenge when he returns but since he’s very decorated former champion I’ll go ahead and pencil him into the list of possible Roman Reigns challengers. I don’t see Randy taking the title from Roman at all but a win over Orton would be a notable notch in The Big Dog’s belt.

My memory might be off but I believe the last big match these two had was at SummerSlam 2014, one of Roman’s bigger proving grounds as a singles competitor. I remember the match being way better than I expected it to be with most of the credit going to The Viper at that time. With almost 2 years since that matchup, Roman past needing carried in a singles match so it would be interesting to see what they’d do together now.

6. Chris Jericho

From an entertainment standpoint, heel Chris Jericho has been on fire for the past few months. He’s so good at being hated and just oozes of smugness. Also, he’s consistently been one of the best in-ring competitors in the business for the better part of two decades. It’s been a little while since Y2J had a real run at the top title in WWE and right now couldn’t be a more perfect time for him to take a stab at it once again.

From the storyline side of things, he’d have a decent case for why he should be in the title picture. He scored an unexpected win over AJ Styles at WrestleMania only for AJ to be crowned the Number One Contender one day later. Even with losses since ‘Mania, he can still point back to that win and justify a challenge against Roman and his title.

5. Kevin Owens

If WWE chose to elevate a guy to the main event then there’s arguably nobody more ready for that push then Kevin Owens. He’s one of the most polished performers the company has, from his mic skills to his ability to go in the ring. Plus, as much as the “smart” fans love him he’s more than capable to silence unwanted cheering. KO would pique fan interest while attracting much of the heel heat to himself and off of Roman. WWE should love that.

While Owens is ready for this kind of bump up the roster, the issue that probably will prevent his promotion in the short term is that he’s already killing it with both his feud with Sami Zayn and his role in the current IC Title picture. The guy is doing fantastic with what he has right now and might need a proper bit of finality with those issues before moving on to bigger and better things, even though he’d find a way to juggle it all.

4. Triple H

I’m not necessarily advocating for another go of Roman Reigns and Triple H, but Hunter did resign a massive money contract as a perform for WWE and they will need to justify his pay in some way. We’ve been there and done that with Hunter vs. Roman just a few months ago, but it is likely that WWE’s COO could return soon and want another shot at the title he held just earlier this year.

The biggest negative to this challenge is that it might mean an official return of The Authority and we already get more than enough McMahons right now without that dynamic. On the plus side, super-over babyface Triple H was kind of fun. Also, HE looked like he was having a ton of fun in the buildup to WrestleMania 32 and who am I to stop that?

3. Dean Ambrose

Roman’s former Shield stablemates have the most history with him and it just so happens that Dean Ambrose has experience with being that fill-in challenge guy around this time of year, so he’s one of the more compatible guys to plug into a challenge. It was at Payback 2015 that Dean was in a 4-way match to challenge another Shield Champion, Seth Rollins, for his title. That set up brief rekindling of their rivalry that saw Ambrose headlining both the 2015 versions of Extreme Rules and Money in the Bank.

Maybe May through July can become that time of year when WWE pretends like Dean Ambrose is a top performer? He has a big match against Chris Jericho on Sunday that win or lose, should place him nearer than ever to being the Number One Contender (based solely off of the example of AJ Styles).

2. John Cena

There have already been rumblings of this matchup for SummerSlam and as far as a huge main event goes, Reigns vs. Cena fills that role perfectly. Cena has been the biggest star on WWE’s full-time roster for years and has casual fan appeal that can only be matched or topped by stars like The Rock or Brock Lesnar. Roman has yet to face Cena in a singles match on this big of a stage so it makes sense to begin building for it soon.

The crowd reactions would especially be fun here because they both are cheered and jeered by the much of the same demographics. I’d imagine the opposite of the staredown from the beginnings of Hogan vs. Rock for this contest. Both John and Roman would pause and slowly look out into the crowd… who’s deafeningly booing them both. I’m not so naïve to think that there wouldn’t be cheers, but SummerSlam draws more of a smarky crowd. It would likely be a great match but Roman would once again have to ignore the crowd responses when he stands victorious over Cena at the end.

1. Seth Rollins

Roman’s other former Shield-mate went out with injury last fall not only while still the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but also while he was fending off Roman as his challenger. It was because of this injury that prompted a Title Tournament and subsequent feud with Sheamus. Seth is due back on TV June 6th and will be primed for a huge reaction. WWE might need to extend this The Family/The Club feud a little beyond Payback to fill in the gap until Rollins’ arrival, but this huge main event matchup is readymade.

Rollins will want another shot at the title that he never actually lost. He’ll have massive fan support, which should keep Roman in the same role he is now against Styles. This can be another sort of babyface vs. babyface feud. Of course, if they face off against each other then that makes it hard to get a Bullet Club vs. Shield rivalry which is currently atop my 2016 Christmas list. Perhaps they can align with Dean Ambrose for a month or two together, then turn on each other right before SummerSlam and do their singles match at on that card. Regardless, the former champ who relinquished his title without defeat will need some recompense.

Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter @MitchNickelson.